IndyCars - St. Petersburg: The season begins!

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Tradition! - The IndyCars start their season at the street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida and tradition is respected once again, this year, as we do…

The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

.

.
.
Every year at this time IndyCars take over the streets and a section of runway of the Albert Whitted Airport of St. Petersburg, Florida, to hold a great street race, kicking off the season. The course, at 1.8-miles and 14 turns, is considered clean but anything but easy - especially at Turn One, which seems to bite someone every year. With three long straights, the course has plenty of passing opportunities for the brave. This year, a section of the street course has been repaved and that will make for an interesting difference over the previous recent races.

.

.
.
Racing fans will have plenty of opportunities the enjoy the sport, with no less than 10 races over the weekend. They include:

SRO GT America - 2 races, on Friday and Saturday
Mazda MX-5 Cup - 2 races, on Saturday
USF2000 - 2 races, on Saturday and Sunday
USF Pro 2000 - 2 races, on Saturday and Sunday
Indy NXT - a single race on Sunday

…And, of course, the IndyCars will race on Sunday.

.
.
Let’s look at that support racing.

.
First off, the SRO GT America series is production based, SportsCar series and no IndyCar drivers are in them, so we will wish them happy and safe racing, and concentrate on the others.

.
Mazda MX-5 Cup - Mazda has created a cheap and level playing field where drivers learn how to race SportsCars. The racing is always fantastic, but no IndyCar drivers are in them, so we will wish them happy and safe racing, and concentrate on the others.

.
.
continued…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Support racing…(continued)…

.
The ladder system that trains future Indycar drivers is known as the USF Pro Championships, but is informally known by its old name - the Road to Indy. The three series in it are USF Juniors at the bottom, USF2000 in the middle and USF Pro 2000 on the top. Two of the three are here at St. Pete:

.
USF2000 - The middle rung on the ladder training system uses the all-carbon Tatuus USF-22 car, powered by a 2.0 liter engine made by Elite Engines, with about 175 hp and controlled by a Cosworth SQ6 engine management system. The cars have racing slicks and adjustable wings. They are sometimes the first such equipped cars the drivers will have driven. The transmissions are a Sadev SL75 six-speed sequential gearbox, with steering-wheel paddle shifters. The brakes are Performance Friction Brakes ZR24 4-piston monobloc caliper sets, front and rear.

The drivers are usually graduates from USF Juniors, but some are entering formula cars for the first time, often right out of karting. They will range from 14-years-old to any age above, but youth is prevalent. Some will be rookies and some will be returning veterans and / or champions from other series. The fields are usually very large and competitive. They race hard. Last year, the title was taken by Michael d’Orlando for Cape Motorsports in a fantastic battle at the final races of the season, in Portland. He has moved on to USF Pro 2000.

.
Michael d’Orlando

.
.
USF Pro 2000 - This is the top rung of the ladder. UP2K uses the IP-22 car from Tatuus, based on the USF-22, but with much bigger tires, much more wing, and a much more powerful engine. The Elite Engines 2.0 liter puts out 275 hp and is also managed by a Cosworth SQ6 EMC. The brakes are 274mm disc, front and rear, and bias is driver-adjustable, just like in the USF-22. Transmissions are the Sadev SL82 six-speed sequential transmission, controlled by paddle-shifters on the steering wheel. With the bigger tires and more wing, the cars have substantially more downforce that USF2000.

The fields are typically graduates from USF2000 or from European F3 and GP3 - used to more power and grip and with great racecraft. The level of competition across the board is more even and much more accomplished, though the fields are smaller than USF2000. Last year, the title was taken by Englishman Louis Foster, who has moved on to Indy NXT.

.
Louis Foster for Exclusive Autosport

.
.
Indy NXT - The buffer between the Road to Indy and IndyCars is Indy NXT, (say, “Indy next”), which used to be known as “Indy Lights”. The car is the Dallara IL-15 and is substantially bigger and better than the IP-22. It is much closer to an IndyCar in performance and feel - a great training ground to step up to the big cars. The Dallara uses a 450 hp turbo-charged engine from AER, with engine management from Cosworth. The adjustable brakes are by PFC and are the biggest in the Road to Indy. The transmissions are Ricardo 6-speeds, with paddle-shifters on the steering wheel. The cars have much bigger wheels than the IP-22, providing much more grip. The IL-15 has one more thing - Push-to-Pass, just like on the big cars. That is, an additional burst of 50 horsepower is available to the driver under certain conditions, with the push of a button on the steering wheel.

The drivers are typically graduates of USF Pro 2000, but can often come from GP3 or GP2 in Europe. These drivers are ready to make the move to the big cars by season’s end and many of the drivers in IndyCars are recent graduates of Indy NXT. Last season the title was taken by Linus Lundqvist for HMD Motorsports, but he has yet to find a ride in the big cars. Runner-up Sting Ray Robb is today a rookie in IndyCars and will have his first race, this weekend, driving for Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing.

.
Linus Lundqvist for HMD Motorsports

.

.
.
Okay, let’s get this thing STARTED!!!

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Friday at St. Pete - First on track are the gang from USF Pro 2000…

.
UP2K had their one and only practice in the morning and then went out at midday and qualified for the race weekend.

The TOP SIX cars in practice were:

1 - Kiko Porto, DEForce Racing
2 - Lirim Zendeli [R], TJ Speed
3 - Michael d’Orlando [R], Turn 3 Motorsport
4 - Myles Rowe [R], Pabst Racing
5 - Francesco Pizzi [R], TJ Speed
6 - Christian Brooks, Turn 3 Motorsports

Based on pre-season testing just completed none of those results were a surprise.

.
Here is the way USF Pro 2000 qualified, with times for the TOP SIX: [R] denotes rookie

.
Row 1

Pole - Christian Brooks, Turn 3 Motorsports - time of 1:10.0549s for a speed of 92.499mph

.
P2 - Francesco Pizzi [R], TJ Speed - time of 1:10.0668s for a speed of 92.483mph

.
Row 2

P3 - Kiko Porto, DEForce Racing - time of 1:10.1362s for a speed of 92.392mph

.
P4 - Myles Rowe [R], Pabst Racing - time of 1:10.1529s for a speed of 92.370mph

.
Row 3

P5 - Reece Ushijima [R], Jay Howard Driver Development - time of 1:10.1567s for a speed of 92.365mph

.
P6 - Michael d’Orlando [R], Turn 3 Motorsport - time of 1:10.2251s for a speed of 92.275mph

.
Row 4

P7 - Jonathan Browne, Turn 3 Motorsport
P8 - Jace Denmark [R], Pabst Racing

Row 5

P9 - Salvador de Alba, Exclusive Autosport
P10 - Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Exclusive Autosport

Row 6

P11 - Jordan Missig, Pabst Racing
P12 - Jack William Miller, Miller Vinatieri Motorsports

Row 7

P13 - Christian Weir [R], TJ Speed
P14 - Ricardo Escotto [R], Jay Howard Driver Development

Row 8

P15 - Bijoy Garg [R], DEForce Racing
P16 - Lindsay Brewer, Exclusive Autosport

Row 9

P17 - Nicholas Monteiero [R], NeoTech Motorsports
P18 - Jackson Lee [R], Turn 3 Motorsport

Row 10

P19 - Lirim Zendeli [R], TJ Speed
P20 - Joel Granfors [R], Exclusive Autosport - (no time)

.
.
.
Notable:

• Christian Brooks has been outstanding in every form of racing he has tried. This guy could easily be champion at season’s end. While in USF2000 Christian WON here three times out of four starts. Francesco was nevertheless only 0.01 seconds off grabbing pole himself!

• Reece Ushijima and Francesco Pizzi are new to racing in the States, so the book on them is pretty scarce, but they were touted as being good, and this effort here is backing that up. Reece is an American but he’s been racing in Europe, as has Italian Francesco Pizzi.

• Francesco was one of the guys who WON the LMP2 class at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, and got a Rolex watch for his efforts! Nice start to his North American racing career.

• Kiko Porto and Myles Rowe were the TOPS in Spring Training, just completed at Sebring.

• The top 16 were within one second - great parity of effort and skill.

• Formula 2 veteran Lirim Zendeli (TJ Speed Motorsports) made pretty hard contact with the concrete barriers near Turn 10 after completing only a warm-up lap and Exclusive Autosport newcomer Joel Granfors could not complete qualifying laps after an incident on his out lap.

.
Lirim Zendeli (left) and Joel Granfors - inauspicious start

.
.
.
Race 1 for UP2K will be held mid-morning on Saturday. Next up, USF2000 practices and qualifies…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Friday at St. Pete - USF2000 holds a practice and then qualifies…

.
The kids from USF2000 held their one and only practice right after the UP2K guys were done.

The TOP SIX in practice were:

1 - Simon Sikes, Pabst Racing
2 - Lochie Hughes [R], Jay Howard Driver Development
3 - Sam Corry [R], VRD Racing
4 - Evagoras Papasavvas, Jay Howard Driver Development
5 - Nikita Johnson [R], VRD Racing
6 - George Garciarce, DEForce Racing

All these guys were fast at Spring Training this week and they are STILL fast, with another superb performance by Simon Sikes.

.
Here is the way USF2000 qualified, with times for the TOP SIX: [R] denotes rookie

.
Row 1

Pole - Lochie Hughes [R], Jay Howard Driver Development - time of 1:13.0836s for a speed of 88.666mph

.
P2 - Nikita Johnson [R], VRD Racing - time of 1:13.1640s for a speed of 88.568mph

.
Row 2

P3 - Sam Corry [R], VRD Racing - time of 1:13.3569s for a speed of 88.335mph

.
P4 - Evagoras Papasavvas, Jay Howard Driver Development - time of 1:13.4954s for a speed of 88.169mph

.
Row 3

P5 - Trey Burke, Future Star Racing - time of 1:13.5984s for a speed of 88.045mph

.
P6 - Andre Castro [R], Future Star Racing - time of 1:13.5993s for a speed of 88.044mph

.
Row 4

P7 - Nicholas d’Orlando, Exclusive Autosport
P8 - Zack Ping [R], VRD Racing

Row 5

P9 - Joey Brienza [R], Exclusive Autosport
P10 - Danny Dyszelski, VRD Racing

Row 6

P11 - Jacob Douglas, Exclusive Autosport
P12 - Louka St. John [R], Jay Howard Driver Development

Row 7

P13 - Mac Clark [R], DEForce Racing
P14 - Simon Sikes, Pabst Racing

Row 8

P15 - George Garciarce, DEForce Racing
P16 - Al Morey IV, Jay Howard Driver Development

Row 9

P17 - Maxwell Jamieson [R], DEForce Racing
P18 - Chase Gardner [R], Exclusive Autosport

Row 10

P19 - Gordan Scully, VRD Racing
P20 - Elliot Cox [R], Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development

Row 11

P21 - Avery Towns [R], Exclusive Autosport

.
.
.
Notable:

• Simon Sikes dominated the practice with a huge 0.6 second gap back to Lockie Hughes, but during qualifying, the session was red flagged after Sikes slid all the way through Turn 3, into the barriers on the outside and then to a stop down the straight to Turn 4. By then he had sufficient time to still keep at least his P14 start, but it will be much harder to even podium from that position.

• Future Star Racing drivers Andre Castro and Trey Burke had a lousy Spring Training, but obviously, the team wasn’t ready for it, as this is much closer to what we expect from Andre all the time and this is the best qualifying effort ever for Trey, who must be benefitting from Andre’s presence on the squad.

• Nicholas d’Orlando and Zack Ping were supposed to drive in USF Juniors this season, but Nicholas must have inherited his big brother Michael’s family budget when he WON the USF2000 title last year, and Zack must have inherited big brother Noah’s budget, as Noah is going to Europe, to drive for Arden VRD in the GB3 Championship, instead of in USF2000, where he was slated to be.

• Eliott Cox should easily be TOP TEN but he had an incident in practice that must have affected his speed in qualifying.

.
Nicholas d’Orlando (left) Zack Ping and Eliott Cox (right)

.
.
.
It should also be noted that the qually sessions for both USF2000 and USF Pro 2000 will also be used to grid Race 2 for each series, using the 2nd fastest lap of each driver.

.
.
.
Next up, Indy NXT holds their first of two practice sessions…

.
.
.
M

.
.
.

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Friday afternoon at St. Pete - Indy NXT holds their first of two practice sessions…

.
…this weekend, with the 2nd session to be held on Saturday morning. The session ended up with an unusual name on the top of the charts, as sophomore Jacob Abel for Abel Motorsports put in the TOP TIME:

.
Here was the order of speed for Indy NXT Practice 1, with times for the TOP FIVE:
[R] denotes rookie

.
1 - Jacob Abel, Abel Motorsports - time of 01:06.3288s for a speed of 97.695mph

.
2 - Nolan Siegel [R], HMD Motorsports - time of 01:06.3652s for a speed of 97.642mph

.
3 - Rasmus Lindh, HMD Motorsports - time of 01:06.4386s for a speed of 97.534mph

.
4 - Danial Frost, HMD Motorsports - time of 01:06.5038s for a speed of 97.438mph

.
5 - Kyffin Simpson, HMD Motorsports - time of 01:06.5232s for a speed of 97.410mph

.
6 - Josh Green [R], HMD Motorsports
7 - Ernie Francis, Jr., HMD Motorsports / Force Indy
8 - Enaam Ahmed, [R], Cape Motorsports
9 - Louis Foster [R], Andretti Autosport
10 - Christian Bogle, HMD Motorsports

11 - Matteo Nannini [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
12 - Reece Gold [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
13 - Colin Kaminsky [R], Abel Motorsports
14 - Josh Green [R], HMD Motorsports
15 - James Roe, Andretti Autosport
16 - Christian Rasmussen, HMD Motorsports
17 - Jamie Chadwick [R], Andretti Autosport
18 - Jagger Jones [R], Cape Motorsports
19 - Hunter McElrea, Andretti Autosport

.
.
.
Notable:

• Not taking away from Jacob’s accomplishment here, but perenial front runners Christian Rasmussen and Hunter McElrea both crashed out during practice. Nevertheless, this is a great performance from Jacob for the small, family team. We expect Rasmussen and McElrea to emerge as TOP FIVE guys tomorrow.

• This is the first-ever official race practice for the new Firestone tires that the series has switched to, after years on Cooper Tires. Every team will have to re-write their set-up book at every track, because of it. That helps to level the playing field and may have contributed to Abel’s performance.

• Rookie Nolan Siegel ran in the last two Indy Lights races in 2022, so he is not a complete virgin in these cars. Siegel will jump into any kind of car and race it, if allowed to, and it has made him a terrific young talent.

• Third-year driver Christian Bogle, sophomore Kyffin Simpson, and Nolan Siegel all took time in the off-season to race LMP2 cars in the Asian Le Mans Series, Simpson in the Algarve Pro Racing car with John Falb and James Allen and Bogle and Siegel in the Inter Europol car with veteran Charlie Crewes. In Dubai Simpson WON on day one and Bogle and Siegel WON on day two! Simpson is also a regular driver in the IMSA WeatherTech series and WON the GTD class in the Petit Le Mans, last year. These guys are very quickly making themselves the “go-to” guys for SportsCar teams in need of an additional driver.

• The top 15 cars were within 1 second of each other.

.
Christian Bogle

.
Jacob Abel

.
.
.
Indy NXT will be the first guys on track Saturday morning for their 2nd practice session. They will then qualify later in the day, about midday. next, the IndyCars come out for their first practice…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Friday at St. Pete - the IndyCars hold their first practice…

.
…and it was filled with thrills and spills as several cars made contact with walls, though nobody hit anyone else.

.
Here was the order of speed for the IndyCars P-1 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

.
1 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:01.6145s for a speed of 105.170mph

.
2 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:01.6475s for a speed of 105.114mph

.
3 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:01.6790s for a speed of 105.060mph

.
4 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:01.6851s for a speed of 105.050mph

.
5 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing - time of 01:01.6963s for a speed of 105.031mph

.
6 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
7 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
8 - Will Power, Team Penske
9 - Marcus Armstrong [R], Chip Ganassi Racing
10 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske

11 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
12 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
13 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
14 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
15 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren
16 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
17 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
18 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
19 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
20 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises

21 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
22 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
23 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
24 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
25 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
26 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
27 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises

.
.
.
Notable:

• 3 Andretti cars led the parade for most of the session, with Kyle Kirkwood solidly in the lead, but in the last few minutes Dixon, Herta and Palou passed him.

• The TOP FIVE cars are only 0.08 seconds apart. The TOP TWENTY cars are only 1 second apart.

• Many drivers complained that the repaving in the off-season only made that part of the track bumpier!

• Best team appears to be Chip Ganassi, with 3 cars in the TOP TEN. Rookie Marcus Armstrong was one of them and the best rookie.

• For a while Rinus VeeKay looked to snatch the TOP SPOT, which has to be good news for Ed Carpenter Racing, but it didn’t at all help teammate Conor Daly, mired in the back.

• The troubles for Rahal Letterman Lanigan continue, although Jack Harvey was able to easily best his teammates, and he needs to, if he hopes to stay on the team past this season.

• An inauspicious beginning for Alexander Rossi on new team Arrow McLaren. The team had troubles at Spring Training at the Thermal Club and this doesn’t look any better for Alex, although Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist look decent.

• Rookie Agustin Canapino continues to impress with his quick adaptation to the wholly unfamiliar race car. This is his first-ever attempt at open wheel.

.
Agustin Canapino

.
Scot Dixon - TOPS for P-1

.
.
.
The IndyCars will come out for their 2nd practice session in the morning on Saturday, right after Indy NXT does their 2nd practice. Later in the early afternoon the IndyCars will qualify, using the standard knock-out qualifying known as the “Firestone Fast Six.”

.
.
.
This was the last on-track activity of the day.

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Racer magazine’s Marshall Pruett chimes in about the IndyCar’s first practice…

.
Marshall starts with a quick interview with the always engaging David Malukas and then speaks about the P-1 practice session:

.

St Pete IndyCar Friday practice with David Malukas and Marshall Pruett

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Saturday at St. Pete - Indy NXT comes out early for their P-2 practice…

.
…and rookie Nolan Siegel for HMD Motorsports blasts to the front.

.
Here is the order of speed for the Indy NXT P-2 practice session, withy times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

.
1 - Nolan Siegel [R], HMD Motorsports - time of 1:04.8896s for a speed of 99.862mph

.
2 - Reece Gold [R], Juncos Hollinger Racin - time of 1:04.9714s for a speed of 99.736mph

.
3 - Christian Rasmussen, HMD Motorsports - time of 1:04.9777s for a speed of 99.727mph

.
4 - Josh Pierson [R], HMD Motorsports - time of 1:04.9870s for a speed of 99.712mph

.
5 - Jacob Abel, Abel Motorsports - time of 1:05.0220s for a speed of 99.659mph

.
6 - Louis Foster [R], Andretti Autosport
7 - Matteo Nannini [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
8 - Danial Frost, HMD Motorsports
9 - Rasmus Lindh, HMD Motorsports
10 - Hunter McElrea, Andretti Autosport

11 - Enaam Ahmed, [R], Cape Motorsports
12 - Ernie Francis, Jr., HMD Motorsports / Force Indy
13 - Josh Green [R], HMD Motorsports
14 - Jamie Chadwick [R], Andretti Autosport
15 - Colin Kaminsky [R], Abel Motorsports
16 - James Roe, Andretti Autosport
17 - Kyffin Simpson, HMD Motorsports
18 - Jagger Jones [R], Cape Motorsports
19 - Christian Bogle, HMD Motorsports

.
.
.
Notable:

• Nolan had been hanging in the TOP FIVE for the full session and jumped to P1 with five minutes left to run. Then, Josh Green stuffed his car into the wall near Turn 9, bringing out a final red flag with two minutes left to go, and ending the session. That’s a P2 and a P1 for Siegel in practice.

• Friday was no fluke as Jacob Abel stays in the TOP FIVE.

• There is a strong rookie class, this season. Here, 5 of the TOP TEN are rookies, including the TOP spot. Both Nolan and Josh Pierson have lots of time in high horsepower cars, due to their SportsCar race experience.

• Kyffin Simpson stuffed his car into the tire barriers at Turn 4 while running in P7, doing damage mainly to the left front suspension. With only 20 minutes left in the session, he was unable to repair and return before the checkered flag.

• Hunter McElrea spent most of the session in the pits, possibly chasing some still unresolved problem caused by yesterday’s wall hit. He eventually got some good laps in on the back half of the session.

• The TOP SEVENTEEN cars were covered by less than a second. This is going to be a fun season!

.
Nolan Siegel - looking good

.
.
.
Indy NXT will do their qually this early afternoon. Next, the IndyCars hold their 2nd practice session…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Saturday morning at St. Pete - The IndyCars hold their 2nd practice…

.
This was the last opportunity to get things right before qualifying, later today.

.
Here was the order of speed for the IndyCar P-2 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

.
1 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 1:00.0779s for a speed of 107.860mph

.
2 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske - time of 1:00.2511s for a speed of 107.550mph

.
3 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing - time of 1:00. 4601s for a speed of 107.178mph

.
4 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport - time of 1:00. 5294s for a speed of 107.055mph

.
5 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 1:00.6960s for a speed of 106.762mph

.
6 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
7 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
8 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren
9 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
10 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren

11 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
12 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
13 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
14 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
15 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
16 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
17 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
18 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
19 - Will Power, Team Penske
20 - Marcus Armstrong [R], Chip Ganassi Racing

21 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
22 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing23 -
24 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
25 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
26 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
27 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner

.
.
.
Notable:

• The TOP FIVE have been fast all weekend, so no surprises. Mclaughlin has suffered from a few wall bumps, but managed to stay clean in this session. Rinus VeeKay in particular looks very good, again. That’s five Hondas and five Chevys in the TOP TEN.

• This session saw several red flags. Newgarden bent his suspension in Turn 10, but Scott Dixon and Sting Ray Robb were both severely bitten by the problems in Turn 3, Turn 4 and will need to scramble to fix their cars for qually.

• All three Arrow McLaren cars made the TOP TEN and 3 out of 4 Andretti cars did, too.

• Not a session for the rookies, the best one was Marcus Armstrong in P20.

• Jack Harvey and Christian Lundgaard flew the flag for Rahal Letterman Lanigan with an improved P12 and P14, but Graham Rahal is still struggling with a P24.

.
Colton Herta

.
.
.
The IndyCars will return to the track this early afternoon to qualify for Sunday’s race, using the standard knock-out qualifying format. Next up, USF Pro 2000 holds Race 1 of their weekend. The grid for this race is in post # 3…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Saturday morning at St. Pete - USF Pro 2000 holds Race 1 of the season…

.
…and WINNING from pole was Christian Brooks for Turn 3 Motorsport. P2 went to Kiko Porto for DEForce Racing from his P3 start while P3 went to Myles Rowe for Pabst Racing from his P4 start.

.

.
.
.
Lap 1 was run under yellow for a misalignment of the field. On the 2nd lap there was drama at Turn 4 as Ricardo Escotto for Jay Howard Driver Development had a big lock-up. To avoid, Jordan Missig for Pabst Racing cut across Christian Weir for TJ Speed going into the corner and spun around. Escotto had to head to the pits for a new front wing, Weir also got turned around but kept going in the same P14 while Missig was out on the spot and Michael d’Orlando for Turn 3 had to pit too. Benefitting, Joel Granfors for Exclusive Autosport went from P20 to P10, Nicolas Monteiro for NeoTech Motorsports from P17 to P12, Jack William Miller for Miller Vinatieri from P12 to P6, Lirim Zendeli for TJ Speed from P19 to P11 and Bijoy Garg for DEForce Racing from P15 to P11. Kiko Porto and Myles Rowe got by Francesco Pizzi for TJ Speed to take over P2 and P3 respectively.

The second caution period occurred on lap 22 of 25 after Nicholas Monteiro came to a stop on track. Brooks held on to the lead on the restart. Reece Ushijima for JHDD in P5 tried to pass Pizzi in P4 but instead ended up losing a spot to Jace Denmark for Pabst, who finished in P5.

.
.
.
Notable:

• This was redemption for Brooks, who started the 2022 season of what was then Indy Pro 2000 at St. Pete, but crashed out so badly in qualifying that he was unable to continue racing for the rest of the year, due to budget. Christian so far only has this one race weekend paid for, so he HAS TO WIN and hopefully impress someone enough to keep racing - One down and one to go!

• Stats for the second grid have not been released, but Brooks should be on pole, again.

.
.
.
Your happy podium - That’s Kiko Porto in P2 on the left, Christian Brooks in P1 in the middle and Myles Rowe in P3 on the right:

.

.
.
.
Next up, Indy NXT goes for qualifying…

.
.
.
M

strong text

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Saturday at St. Pete - Indy NXT qualifies for Sunday’s Race 1 of the season…

.
…and finding himself on the pole is rookie Louie Foster for Andretti Autosport, the 2022 USF Pro 2000 Champion.

.
Here is the way Indy NXT will grid for Season Round 1, with times for the TOP SIX:
[R], denotes rookie

.
Row 1

Pole - Louis Foster [R], Andretti Autosport - time of 1:05.1103s for a speed of 99.523mph

.
P2 - Jacob Abel, Abel Motorsports - time of 1:05.1763s for a speed of 99.423mph

.
Row 2

P3 - Christian Rasmussen, HMD Motorsports - time of 1:05.2204s for a speed of 99.335mph

.
P4 - Rasmus Lindh, HMD Motorsports - time of 1:05.2283s for a speed of 99.343mph

.
Row 3

P5 - Kyffin Simpson, HMD Motorsports - time of 1:05.2284s for a speed of 99.252mph

.
P6 - Nolan Siegel [R], HMD Motorsports - time of 1:05.3331s for a speed of 99.184mph

.
Row 4

P7 - Danial Frost, HMD Motorsports
P8 - Reece Gold [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing

Row 5

P9 - Matteo Nannini [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
P10 - Josh Green [R], HMD Motorsports

Row 6

P11 - Enaam Ahmed, [R], Cape Motorsports
P12 - Hunter McElrea, Andretti Autosport

Row 7

P13 - Jagger Jones [R], Cape Motorsports
P14 - Colin Kaminsky [R], Abel Motorsports

Row 8

P15 - Josh Pierson [R], HMD Motorsports
P16 - James Roe, Andretti Autosport

Row 9

P17 - Ernie Francis, Jr., HMD Motorsports / Force Indy
P18 - Jamie Chadwick [R], Andretti Autosport

Row 10

P19 - Christian Bogle, HMD Motorsports

.
.
.
Notable:

• Louis (pronounced “Louie”) was one of several drivers who topped the time sheets near the end of the session. Also on top at one time were Nolan Siegel, Jacob Abel, Christian Rasmussen and Danial Frost.

• The ENTIRE field was covered by 0.87 seconds! What a stellar group of drivers.

.
.
.
The race is scheduled for mid-morning on Sunday. next up, the IndyCars qualify…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Saturday at St. Pete - The IndyCars are qualified!..

.
…and on the pole will be Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean.

.
Here is the way the IndyCars will grid for Season Round 1, with times for the TOP SIX: [R] denotes rookie

.
Row 1

Pole - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport - time of 59.5532s for a speed of 108.810mph

.
P2 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 59.9687s for a speed of 108.056mph

.
Row 2

P3 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren - time of 01:00.0163s for a speed of 107.971mph

.
P4 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:00.4435s for a speed of 107.208mph

.
Row 3

P5 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport - No time

.
P6 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske - No time

.
Row 4

P7 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
P8 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren

Row 5

P9 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
P10 - Will Power, Team Penske

Row 6

P11 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P12 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren

Row 7

P13 - Marcus Armstrong [R], Chip Ganassi Racing
P14 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

Row 8

P15 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
P16 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports

Row 9

P17 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
P18 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner

Row 10

P19 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P20 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Row 11

P21 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
P22 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing

Row 12

P23 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
P24 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing

Row 13

P25 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
P26 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing

Row 14

P27 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises

.
.
.
Notable:

• This is Romain’s 2nd IndyCar pole, following his pole at the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2021.

• This is Kyle Kirkwood’s first Firestone Fast Six, but it didn’t last too long for him.

• As the Fast Six began Kyle Kirkwood lost it in Turn 14 on his opening lap, doing substantial damage to the left front of his car. Thus, he was able to put in no time. Shortly after, on his opening lap Scott McLaughlin brushed the wall in Turn 10 and then looped his damaged car in turn 12. Thus, he ALSO put in no time. Their best times from the Fast Twelve were then used to grid them both.

• In Round 1, Group 2 Rinus VeeKay was putting in a great flyer when he ran too close to the back of Alex Palou and had to exit the run. He ended up failing to transfer but Palou was not penalized. Rinus was highly upset. Palou was on a run at the time but was much slower, relatively, than Rinus.

.
.
.
The IndyCars will have a Morning Warm-Up on Sunday morning - officially the P-3 practice. Next up, USF2000 holds Race 1 of the weekend…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Saturday afternoon at St. Pete - USF2000 holds Race 1 of their season…

.
…and Australian Lochie Hughes went from pole to the WIN for Jay Howard Driver Development. Making it even better, JHDD’s Evagoras Papasavvas went from a P4 start to claim P2 while Nikita Johnson for VRD Racing went from his P2 start to finish P3.

.
Lochie Hughes cruises to the WIN from pole

.
.
.
On lap 1 Avery Towns for Exclusive Autosport had an impact in Turn 4 and his spinning car also collected Danny Dyszelski and Zack Ping, both for VRD Racing, bringing out a full-course caution. Simon Sikes for Pabst Racing was able to jump from P15 to P9 in the melee. On the lap 5 restart Simon passed Joey Bienza for Exclusive Autosport to take P8. He set Fastest Lap in the process. On lap 7 Evagoras passed Sam Corry for VRD Racing to take over P3, with Trey Burke for Future Star Racing following through to take P4.

By lap 11 Sikes was passing Nicholas d’Orlando for Exclusive Autosport to take P7. On lap 12 Lochie set his own Fastest Lap, defending against Nikita Johnson. On lap 13 Simon passed Andre Castro for Future Star to take P6, as Nikita reset Fastest Lap, himself. Sam Corry passed Trey Burke to reclaim the P4 spot. On lap 15 Simon then went after Trey Burke and passed him to take P5. Evagoras set Fastest Lap, trying to catch Nikita. On lap 16 the speed paid off as Evagoras was able to take P2 from Nikita.

On lap 17 Simon struck again, taking P4 from Sam Corry. On lap 19. Trey took P5 from Sam Corry, but on the final lap, lap 20, Sam reclaimed P5 and Nicholas d’Orlando followed him through, relegating Trey to P7. Most importantly, Simon Sikes set the final Fastest Lap on lap 20 as Lochie crossed the finish line, followed by Eva and Nikita.

.
.
.
Notable:

• Lochie Hughes took the 2022 F4 United States title with 6 WINS, 10 podiums, 7 poles and 5 Fasted laps. Hughes, from Queensland, Australia, is an instant contender for the USF2000 title and this WIN starts that hope off well.

• Simon Sikes has been dominant in all pre-season testing and was dominating this weekend, until he hit the wall in Turn 3 during qualifying and ended up starting P15. With Race 2 gridded by EITHER a driver’s 2nd best qually lap OR his best Race 1 lap, it is quite possible with his last Fastest Lap from this race, he will start on pole in Race 2. An incredible but well-earned recovery.

• Third-year driver Trey Burke is also driving on a whole other level, this weekend. Burke’s usual results from 2021 and 2022 were in the teens, but he’s been excellent since they unloaded his Future Star Racing Tatuus here at St. Pete. If he can keep this level up, the former Sprint Car racer will end up fighting for podiums and WINS.

Trey Burke (left) and Simon Sikes

.
.
.
Your happy podium - That’s Evagoras Papasavvas on the left in P2, Lochie Hughes in the middle in P1 and Nikita Johnson on the right in P3:
.

.
.
.
USF2000 Race 2 will be the first thing in the morning, on Sunday. Hopefully, they will release the starting grid before then and we will try to post it. This was the last on-track activity of the day.

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Racer magazine’s Marshall Pruett speaks with Pato O’Ward after qualifying…

.
.

St.Pete IndyCar qualifying with Pato O'Ward and Marshall Pruett

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Ride along with Romain Grosjean as he takes pole for the IndyCar race…

.
.
This nice little vid has been released by IndyCar. In it you can hear Romain hit the rev limiter as he goes through Turn 6. At that point he probably thought “I’ve blown this” but he never surrendered and a late-braking maneuver in the final turns got him an outstanding sector time and pole. It then took a few seconds to confirm that he had pole. You can see how much it meant to him!

.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

.
.
Romain later commented, “I’d forgotten how good this feels!”

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Sunday morning at St. Pete - USF2000 holds Race 2 of the weekend…

.
…and series rookie Nikita Johnson for VRD Racing goes from a P3 start to WIN his first race in the series. P2 went to Simon Sikes for Pabst Racing from pole while P3 went to rookie Lochie Hughes for Jay Howard Driver Development from a P4 start.

.

.
.

We weren’t given the starting line-up until just before the start of the race, but the TOP FIVE starters looked like this, based either on their 2nd best qually lap or their best Race 1 lap:

1 - Simon Sikes for Pabst Racing
2 - Evagoras Papasavvas for JHDD
3 - Nikita Johnson for VRD Racing
4 - Lochie Hughes for JHDD
5 - Joey Brienza for Exclusive Autosport

.
.
Lap 1 was waved off because of a lousy formation by the pack of cars. Andre Castro for Future Star Racing pitted with a mechanical issue. Lap 2 saw Nikita immediately pounce on Evagoras and take P2 from him. Louka St. John for JHDD got a great jump from P7 to take P4 from Lochie. Zack Ping for VRD collided with teammate Sam Corry and bent Corry’s front wing. (Zack would later be callled to the pits for a penalty). On lap 3 Nikita made a bold move in Turn 1 and took the lead from Sikes, setting Fastest Lap in the process. On lap 4 Lochie reclaimed P4 from Louka. Trey Burke for Future Star starting in P15 had by now moved up to P9.

In the intense battling, several cars had by now lost wings and needed to pit to repair or retire. They included Chase Gardner for Exclusive Autosport, Mac Clark for DEForce Racing, Jacob Douglas for Exclusive, and Louka St. John. Elliot Cox for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development also lost a front wing but elected to race without it. By lap 7 Danny Dyszelski who started P20 for VRD Racing passed Sam Corry to take over P10. By halfway at lap 10 the TOP FOUR had pulled away from the pack and were in intense battles for position.

On lap 12 Lochie passed Evagoras to take over P3. By lap 14 Nikita had opened up a full second gap to Simon. George Garciarce for DEForce passed Joey Brienza to take P5 and Trey Burke followed through to take P6. Danny Dyszelski moved into P8. On lap 16 Joey was pitting with damage. By lap 18 Simon was closing on Nikita and set Fastest Lap in the process. At the same time, Evagoras was pressing right on Lochie’s rear wing to get past. On lap 19 Simon made a lunge in Turn 1 and took the lead, but Nikita pulled the over-under and reclaimed it by Turn 2. Nkita went on to WIN by 0.56 seconds over Simon who was 2 seconds in front of Lochie. Evagoras missed the podium by 0.19 seconds.

A great race with tons of action all through the field!

.
.
.
Notable:

• Nikita was one of the best drivers in USF Juniors last season, so no surprise that the 14-year-old is already a race WINNER, with two podiums on the weekend.

• Simon Sikes does not have a full season budget, yet, so podiums are a necessity and WINS are needed. This weekend he pulled in a P4 and a P2 but he will need WINS.

• Lochie Hughes comes away with two podiums - one of them a WIN.

.
.
.
Your happy podium - That’s Simon Sikes in P2 on the left, Nikita Johnson in P1 in the middle and Lochie Hughes in P3 on the right:

.
.
.
With these results, here are the TOP FIVE in points, leaving St. Pete:

1 - Lochie Hughes, 54
2 - Nikita Johnson, 53
3 - Simon Sikes, 47
4 - Evagoras Papasavvas, 44
5 - Trey Burke, 29

.
.
.
Next up for USF2000 will be Rounds 3 and 4 at Sebring International Raceway in late March, where Simon Sikes dominated the Spring Training. Next on track, the IndyCars hold morning Warm-Up…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Sunday morning at St. Pete - The IndyCars hold the P-3 practice…

.
…also known as the Morning Warm-Up - the final chance to get ready for the race, later today. As with all post-qualifying practice sessions, it is impossible to know what each team and each car is trying to do with the Warm-Up. Are they still searching for speed? Are they trying to CONFIRM a race set-up? Are they checking tire wear? We know that the fast guys in the Warm-Up will be fast guys in the race, but we also know they will not necessarily be the ONLY fast guys in the race.

.
Here was the order of speed for the IndyCars P-3 practice session, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

.
1 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:00.5886s for a speed of 106.951mph

.
2 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:00.7213s for a speed of 106.717mph

.
3 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:00.8377s for a speed of 106.513mph

.
4 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing - time of 01:00.9833s for a speed of 106.259mph

.
5 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing - time of 01:00.0320s for a speed of 106.174mph

.
6 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
7 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
8 - Will Power, Team Penske
9 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
10 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing

11 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
12 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
13 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
14 - Marcus Armstrong [R], Chip Ganassi Racing
15 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
16 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
17 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
18 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
19 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
20 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren

21 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
22 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
23 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
24 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
25 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
26 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
27 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
.
.
.
Notable:

• Nobody did any significant damage to themselves in the Warm-Up, though Scott Dixon did tag a wall.

.
Colton Herta - TOPS in the Warm-Up

.
.
.
The race is scheduled for LIVE broadcast on NBC, starting at 12:00pm EASTERN time, with concurrent broadcast on Peacock Premium.

.
.
.
Next up, Indy NXT holds Season Round 1. The grid for this is in post # 11…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Sunday morning at St. Pete - Indy NXT holds a barn-burner…

.
The first Lights race of the season was WON in the final laps by Danial Frost for HMD Motorsports from his P7 start. P2 went to teammate and rookie Nolan Siegel from his P6 start while P3 went to Jacob Abel for Abel Motorsports from his P2 start.

.

.
.
.
This one was messy. There were a total of 5 full-course cautions during the contest with ultimately 5 cars taken out and a few others laps down. On lap 1 the first caution came out with a collision between Reece Gold for Juncos Hollinger and Enaam Ahmed for Abel Motorsports, and the second caused by Jagger Jones for Cape motorsports running into the barriers. Only Reece survived to keep racing. On the lap 8 restart following the Jones incident Jacob Abel made a great move in Turn 1 to take P1 past pole-sitter Louis Foster for Andretti and P2 Christian Rasmussen for HMD. Nolan Siegel also took P4 from teammate Kiffin Simpson. On lap 9 Danial passed Kyffin for P5, then Josh Green for HMD passed Kyffin for P6.

Jacob pulled out a 3-second gap but by lap 22 Louis had closed it back up to 1 second. On lap 26 Hunter McElrea for Andretti passed Simpson for P8. On lap 28 James Roe for Andretti pitted with a mechanical. At the same time Josh Green got pushed into the tires at Turn 4 by Rasmus Lindh for HMD and Jamie Chadwick for Andretti and Reece Gold plowed into Green’s rear end, bringing out another caution. Green was able to recover as was Reece. Chadwick pitted for a new front wing.

On the restart Louis hit the wall in Turn 3 while Jamie hit the tires - Another caution as Louis pitted for repairs to his rear tow link. On the lap 35 restart Nolan passed both Jacob and Christian in Turn 1 and Danial followed through to P2, but in Turn 4 Matteo Nannini for Juncos, Josh Green and Kyffin Simpson collected at Turn 4 - Caution. The race became a timed race, at that point. At the restart Danial took Nolan in Turn 1 as the leaders went 3 wide through the turn. Frost then kept the lead for the final few minutes

Action all through the field!

.
.
.
Notable:

• With 19 cars in the field there was something to watch all through it. This could be the most exciting Lights season in many years.

• Ernie Francis came home in 6th - his best-ever Lights finish.

.
.
.
Danial Frost 's pass for the lead and the WIN:

INDYCAR on NBC

.
.
.
With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving St. Pete:

1 - Danial Frost, 51
2 - Nolan Siegel, 41
3 - Jacob Abel, 38
4 - Christian Rasmussen, 32
5 - Hunter McElrea, 30

.
.
.
Next up for Indy NXT will be in support of the indyCars at the Firestone Grand Prix of Alabama, April 30th. Next, the IndyCar race. The grid for this is in post # 12…
.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Sunday at St. Pete - The IndyCar race…

.
…Will DEFINITELY be remembered, by drivers and fans alike. This one packed in the drama and the excitement from the start and ran at full bore to the finish. The highlight reel on this one is not going to be long enough.

In the end the WINNER was Marcus Ericsson for Chip Ganassi Racing from his P4 start. P2 went to a disconsolate and dejected Pato O’Ward for Arrow McLaren from his P3 start, robbed of a possible victory by a very temporary and ill-timed mechanical in the final moment of the race. P3 went to veteran Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi from his P9 start.

.

.
.
.
The race began with a massive crash in Turn 3 that removed five cars within seconds of the start, though luckily without great injury to any one of the drivers involved. It started with a little tap on Felix Rosenqvist for Arrow McLaren by Scott Dixon and ended up with several cars trying desperately and ineffectively to check up for a stack up in the Turn 4 corner. People WIILL BE sore, however. The huge shunt brought out a red flag. Once under way again there were many spurts of some good racing interspersed with more drama, including another wreck almost as bad as the first one, though quicker to clean up.

By the halfway point in the race, only 15 of the 27 cars were on the lead lap. By the end only 12 cars were on the lead lap. Leading for the first stint of the race was pole-sitter Romain Grosjean for Andretti Autosport, but a late race battle with then-leader Scott McLaughlin for Team Penske ended up with both drivers into the tire barriers at Turn 4, though McLaughlin would be able to rejoin a few laps down. He was penalized later for removing Grosjean, and was highly apologetic for it, but Grosjean almost committed suicide on the air, he was so dejected, unbelieving and angry, getting out of the car.

The shunt elevated P3 Pato O’Ward to the lead which he held until late in the race when his car temporarily “farted” on the main straight with a flash fire in his fuel injection plenum chamber. It lasted only a second or two but that was enough for Ericsson to get by.

The race wasn’t pretty to watch and textbook perfect but it was as exciting and mesmerizing as street racing can ever get!

Take a look at this highlight reel:

.

2023 RACE HIGHLIGHTS // FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG

.
Here are the TOP PASSES form the race:

.

Top Passes // Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

.
And here are the race and post-race interviews:

.

FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX INTERVIEWS // FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG

.
.
.
Notable:

• This is Ericsson’s 4th IndyCar WIN and third on a street course. The one oval was last year’s Indy 500.

• P4 went to a renewed Alexander Rossi for new team Arrow McLaren while P5 went to Callum Ilott for Juncos Hollinger - is best IndyCar finish to date and a drive all the way from a P22 start. P6 went to Graham Rahal from his own disappointing P20 start. 2/3rds of the wrecked cars started behind these guys, so they made a lot of actual passes to end where they did.

.
With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving St. Pete:

1 - Marcus Ericsson, 51
2 - Pato O’Ward, 41
3 - Scott Dixon, 36
4 - Alexander Rossi, 32
5 - Callum Ilott, 30

.
.
.
The next outing for the IndyCars will be the PPG #75 at Texas Motor Speedway, April 2

.
.
Next up, USF Pro 2000 closes out the race weekend…

.
.
.
M

[MarkyS]

+++

.
Racer magazine’s Marshall Pruett talks with Callum Ilott after the race…

.
.

St.Pete IndyCar Race Recap with Callum Illott and Marshall Pruett

.
.
.
Great kid.

.
.
.
M